His fans loved him for that, and also because he always looked so contented on screen. Regardless of the film’s quality, you suspected he was having a good time making it, which encouraged you to have some fun in turn. In the Fast & Furious series, when he climbed behind the wheel of a tuned-up sports car, it was like watching a cat sink into its favourite cushion.

Brick Mansions is the last film Walker completed (although his work in Fast & Furious 7, which was in production at the time of his death, will, apparently, be included in that film’s final cut). It’s a sparky remake of the acrobatic French thriller District 13, in which two undercover agents hop, skip and jump through a treacherous Paris banlieue on their way to defuse a stolen neutron bomb.

Related Articles

Director Camille Delamarre and Luc Besson, who co-wrote the screenplay, relocate the story to Detroit and tone down some of its (admittedly broad) social satire — although the Parkour remains centre-stage, and is mostly hair-raising. (David Belle, one of the French inventors of Parkour, stars alongside Walker, and takes most of the trickiest stunts.)

The slumlord with the bomb is played by RZA, from American hip-hop troupe, The Wu-Tang Clan. As fans of his music know, RZA has a low, strange voice, like a hoarse ghost’s, which makes his threats — “I don’t do anxious, I cause anxious”, etc — a lot of fun to listen to.

There’s also a girl fight, with chains and whips, that would make Russ Meyer proud.